


Reflected

by AWritingNerd



Series: Hades Fics [5]
Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Character Death, Falling In Love, Idiots in Love, M/M, Multi, They're In Love Your Honor, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:34:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29842959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AWritingNerd/pseuds/AWritingNerd
Summary: After their first meeting, any injury given to a soulmate is reflected on the other. Theseus and Asterius have known since the Labyrinth. They hadn't accounted on another, however.
Relationships: Asterius | The Minotaur/Theseus (Hades Video Game), Asterius | The Minotaur/Theseus/Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Asterius | The Minotaur/Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Theseus/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Series: Hades Fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2168565
Kudos: 34





	Reflected

**Author's Note:**

> Contemplated posting or not, decided to do so.

When Theseus and Asterius die, it is at the same time, even though it is Theseus who landed the killing blow, and it was also the king who hadn’t received any injury severe enough to warrant his death at that exact moment. When he emerged into Elysium for the first time, Theseus could think of nothing more than finding Asterius, the Bull of Minos, his soulmate. Of course, even after he found the bull and advocated for his presence in Elysium, Theseus didn’t expect them to get close, and he wasn’t sure if they would ever find love in each other, but a part of him hoped for it, and the rest of his mind knew that regardless of the nature of their relationship, he owed Asterius, as his soulmate, the ability to have a good afterlife. 

It had been stilted at first, to interact with one he had just fought to the death with, someone he had died with. After his initial explanation, he had left the bull to think, and when he had re-emerged into Asterius’ life afterward, nothing else was said. They lived their lives together and separately, with Theseus holding his matches in the coliseum, and Asterius exploring Elysium. 

After a while of living together, however, the two got closer, and Asterius began joining Theseus in sparring, both privately, and in the coliseum. Soon, their movements became seamless, navigating around each other as if they had been together since their origin. Soon, their relationship grew closer too, into a platonic bond that none could break, and then into a romantic bond that both of them cherished. 

There was a sort of intimacy in seeing each other’s wounds reflected on the other’s body. When Asterius caught a glance to his bicep, and Theseus felt his skin break open in response; when Theseus’ side was cut by a sharp blade, and Asterius felt the sting on his own flank. Both of them recognized each other’s pain, and in response, became more aware of those injuries. Their fighting only got stronger as time went on. 

The scars on Asterius’ body were ones he was glad did not mar his king’s. 

“I love you very much, my dear Asterius,” Theseus had whispered when he had first seen them while bathing the minotaur. “But I am very glad our bond activated when we first met. The wounds you had during your confinement...I don’t believe I would make it to you in the first place if I’d had to withstand them.” It was an honest confession from Theseus, one with a tone of fear that Asterius didn’t normally hear. He had understood the reaction wholeheartedly, and had indulged Theseus when his king had demanded the right to ‘pamper his darling bull!’. 

The strain in their relationship came back briefly, when Theseus realized that Asterius was sparring with the prince of the Underworld. “Hades has ordered us to send him back to the styx, my love,” Theseus had said after ending yet another battle with Zagreus, his voice gentler. “We can’t afford mercy.” 

Asterius hadn’t tried to argue after that, accepting that his king was right in this, regardless of his own feelings, but he still remained a little softer around the short one, keeping him on his toes while delivering blows with their power and force dialed down. Something about the short one intrigued him, particularly his continuous deaths. 

As soon as Asterius hit him, he was wrought with pain. As soon as Theseus hit him, he felt the sting of battle, but neither of them thought anything of it, believing that it was simply glances and stabs from the foe they were facing. When Zagreus died, they tended to their injuries as usual, and when Zagreus came back in, bloody from his previous fights, they would fight again. 

It was only when the blood was no longer there to obscure it that the three of them realized what they’d been missing. Zagreus had emerged into the arena with only a few scratches, in part thanks to his weapon and the boons he had been gifted on his escape. Neither king nor bull allowed this to discourage them from giving it their all, but when Zagreus finally made a hit- a slash across Asterius’ chest from his shoulder blade to his waist- both heroes found themselves struck silent by the slash that reflected on Zagreus’ own chest. 

Here they all were, the same wound on their chests, the roar of the audience fading.

It was as if they were the only ones in the world. 

“I see,” Theseus whispers, suddenly vulnerable. “That we might need to talk..in private.”

That is something they can all agree with.


End file.
